It was twelve years ago today …

I find alternative history to be fascinating.  If you’re not familiar with what that term means, “alternative history” refers to exploring what could have occurred if a particular historical event had turned out differently, extrapolating from that change how subsequent events might have changed as well.  What if the South had won the Civil War, or the Germans had stayed with the Schlieffen Plan in World War I, or major league baseball had become fully integrated in the 1880s instead of the 1950s.  (All of which came close to happening.)  A lot of great books of recent years have been based on this concept, including Military History Quarterly’s What If? series and Michael Chabon’s award-winning novel The Yiddish Policeman’s Union.

Playing the “what-if” game is an interesting exercise when dealing with key historical moments – and maybe even more so when dealing with key personal ones.  Think of the movies Sliding Doors, The Family Man, 13 Going on 30 and The Butterfly Effect, all of which hinge on how the protagonists’ lives are affected by a single decision.  (I guess you could throw It’s A Wonderful Life in there as well.)  Or think of your own (hopefully) wonderful life, and how different choices might have changed it.  What if I had stuck with my high school sweetheart instead of meeting someone new at college?  What if I’d applied for that job instead of this one?  What if I’d gone to the club with my friends rather than staying home and watching Seinfeld reruns?  What if I hadn’t taken a swing at that cop? For good or ill, our decisions shape our future.

My point, you may ask?  (Yes, I have one.)  Well, Peabody, let’s set the Wayback Machine to June 19, 1998 – twelve years ago – and the rock concert I didn’t attend …

I [heart] Fanfic!

Have you ever heard of “fanfic”?  It’s short for “fan fiction,” and refers to fictional (duh!) pieces based on works of art in the public medium, which are not authorized by the makers of the original works but which are done simply for fun rather than profit.  Someone likes, say, the movie The Dark Knight, so just for grins and giggles they write their own little story based on The Dark Knight, either a sequel or an alternate ending or filling in some of the backstory, whatever.  Star Trek fanfic is the most common (there’s at least one whole website, Trekiverse, dedicated to nothing but Trek fanfic), but there’s fanfic out there based on movies, TV shows, books, stage plays, even video games.  I suspect you could even do history fanfic, if you’re just a huge admirer of Theodore Roosevelt or somebody.

I’ve thought about scribbling out some of my own for a while, but last week I finally did it.  It’s a very short story called “Step One,” based on the movie Iron Man (a recent fave of mine) and you can read it here if you like.  It’s a little rough around the edges — the plot isn’t all it could be, and there are a few typos I didn’t catch before putting it online — but not bad for a first try, I’d say.  I’m thinking of doing some more, based on other movies I’ve liked: Watchmen, Enchanted, V for Vendetta, Music and Lyrics … I’ll keep you posted if/when any of those come to fruition.

Now, the question you might be asking … why?  What exactly is the point of doing fanfic, since writing does use up a lot of time, and you can’t sell your writing without incurring a copyright violation and having to deal with major media corporations and their packs of slavering, rabid lawyers?  Why waste all that energy for something that can’t possibly profit you?

Well, it depends upon your definition of profit, I suppose.